This article is written by Alpa Dave 1 & Aparimita Pramanik 2 for National Cooperative Union of India’s The Cooperator (magazine) issued in March 2025 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
Introduction
Founded by Elaben Bhatt in Gujarat in 1972, nearly 3 million self-employed3 women across multiple sectors have united to form the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) which works to dismantle the economic and societal barriers that have placed women on the periphery of society. Being united, they have transformed not only their own lives but the lives of millions more by inducing policy changes at the grassroots, state and national levels.
To provide sustained livelihood opportunities and economic empowerment, the cooperatives serve as building blocks. The SEWA Cooperative Federation works as an intermediary and facilitating agency between the informal workers and their cooperatives. Formed on December 31, 1992, the Federation4 is a secondary-level cooperative, and works as a Women’s Enterprise Support System (WESS) to strengthen the primary cooperatives and has promoted 112 cooperatives over 33 years..
The cooperatives have been vehicles for economic and social inclusion of informal women workers. These cooperatives are owned, managed, and run by workers, enabling greater control over resources, work and income security, and social security. The enterprises are resilient, innovative, and scalable and more than 60% of enterprises created by SEWA members are still active.
Need for the program
The need to promote inclusive growth among grassroots women cooperators was felt during one of the national level workshops organised by the SEWA Cooperative Federation, SEWA Bharat, the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), and the International Cooperative Alliance, Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP). The workshop is known as the ‘Delhi Declaration for Women Cooperators – 2022’ emphasised to promote inclusive growth by providing cooperative education and creating awareness on the cooperative models as a means of livelihood and social protection. The SEWA Cooperative Federation, a pioneer in cooperative management and governance recognised the importance of initiating a program for grassroots leadership development. It was felt by the key stakeholders working with the women-led collectives and cooperatives that the members are challenged with continued, capable leadership and management skills for effective functioning of these entities. The Federation experienced that while skill development and technical expertise have been the focus of the existing programs, the long-term need for continuous leadership development needs to be strengthened. Armed with these collective inputs to fulfill the training needs of the grassroots workers, the program was launched in the month of September 2024 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
As a facilitator and believer of the democratic ethos of the cooperatives i.e. “koi pan samuh loksahi dhab thi chale to j lambu take jema bheno j malik ane menejar hoy”, (Collectives and cooperatives owned and managed by women can last long only if it is run democratically), to bring 360-degree change, the program was initiated and the curriculum was developed. The participating organisations were invited, and the program was well received by the not-for-profit organisations and they nominated their existing and prospective grassroots leaders from the State of Gujarat.
Selection criteria
Program brochures and video clips highlighting the initiative were created and shared with organisations supporting grassroots women’s cooperatives and collectives. These organisations were invited to nominate candidates for the fellowship. Following the stipulated criteria, the first cohort of 16 fellows from Gujarat was selected and the program was launched. They come from diverse backgrounds, at different levels of understanding, and represent diverse collectives. The fellows are compensated for their wage loss and the accommodation and travel allowance are taken care of by the Federation. To inculcate a sense of ownership, belongingness, and commitment to the program, a token amount of ₹1000 was collected from them as the registration fee.
Innovative curriculum
The curriculum focuses on experiential and peer learning techniques. The fellows are encouraged to learn by doing. Multiple interactive, innovative and interesting activities are conducted during the sessions. Personalised learning sessions are offered for those unable to attend due to personal or emergency reasons. The program is focused on holistic personality development through year-long engagements. The exposure visits, self-expression, and public speaking comprise the core of the training curriculum. Peer learning is encouraged, staying together and traveling together create the scope for further learning and deepening of the knowledge.
Impacting the lives of the ‘leaders – in – making’
Small and significant steps
Facilitating small and significant activities for grassroots women, makes a difference in their lives by enhancing their confidence level and developing an individual identity. The learnings of the sessions have helped them to recognize the need to prioritize personal development as the key to achieving organizational goals. These small yet thoughtful and significant changes in their attitude are the basis for long-term changes.
Sonalben Patel expressed that “the training sessions have enabled me to work independently, speak effectively, and be courageous. I have understood that too much work creates stress and learned the ways to maintain calmness during stressful situations”.
Freedom & curiosity
The freedom of choice, the excitement of discovering new places, and the childlike curiosity to observe and learn have enriched their experience. They share the happiness of visiting historical places, even visiting the popular night market and the state bus stand brings confidence and immense joy to them. Collectively, they share that even their family members have never made the effort to visit the same.
Sumitraben Pavar shares; “We come from the State of Gujarat, a land known for Bapuji i.e. Mahatma Gandhi, and the historic Sabarmati Ashram. No one has ever thought about us, not even our family members have brought us here. The Fellowship Program offered us this opportunity. Today we came, saw, and learned about the leader who fought and brought freedom to our country. We are very happy and extend our sincere gratitude to the program team for thinking about us and making this experience possible”.
Overcoming the barriers
The fellows come from diverse levels of social and educational background. Some of them have forgotten the basics of reading and writing, especially translating their thoughts in written words has been a challenge. They express that while managing the household chores, caring for the family members, agricultural activities, and cattle rearing; reading and writing are hardly on their priority list. One of the fellows shares the initial resistance they face from her family members,“how much you will learn and what are the requirements of training sessions at that age?”.
In spite of these resistance and challenges, what binds them together is the desire to work towards personal development and contribute to the larger goals of the organizations they are working for. Bhagvatiben beams with confidence and says; ” the training sessions have helped me to set goals, work towards achieving them, and am continuously encouraged to improve my skills.”
Learning through diverse experiences
The fellows come from different parts of the state, and are in different phases of their life and career. Some of them are in leadership positions and some work at the community level. Some of them are mother-in-laws and come from backward and remote parts of the state. They have forgotten the skills to write, are not in touch with writing, and their work does not require reading and writing. Coming from home, traveling alone or accompanied by colleagues, living in a hotel with batchmates, sitting in the conference rooms watching educational videos, brainstorming on team building activities, the essence of leadership qualities, mindset shift, work-life balance, and cooperation as the stepping stone to achieving the larger goal of the organization.
Mastering the language & expanding the vocabulary
They are open to learning new concepts, eager to pick up some commonly used Hindi and English language words. It is observed during the training sessions that they can recognize the ease of using English words like ‘Governance’ over Hindi/Gujarati words like ‘Anupalan’ and ‘Dividend’ etc. As the fellows are learning, moving ahead in their career path, and creating an identity for themselves, the essence of the learnings are included in the curriculum, making it an ever evolving curriculum to cater the needs of the potential leaders.
Recognising the personal goals
The training sessions help them gain clarity about their goals. This newfound self-awareness is a remarkable achievement. Considering their educational and family background, developing this sense of self is a significant milestone. Through the sessions, they have learned to distinguish between ‘dreams’ (sapna) and ‘goals’ (dheyay). Now, they have begun to dream for themselves.
Peer motivation
One of the fellows motivates her fellow women to come out of their houses, to come together and take up less labour-intensive tasks i.e. soap making, pickle making, incense stick making, dry snack business, etc. She says “As I see the change in my life after joining the Self-Help Group, I discuss and motivate fellow women to work together from their homes. I want to help at least 50 – 60 women through my organization”.
Financial literacy
One of the participants shares her experience about financial literacy i.e. following basic financial protocols and preparation of agendas. The fellows are informed and trained about the essence of following the Standard Operating Procedures and importance of data in the decision-making process. Training sessions about the essences of record keeping, learning certain commonly used terminology in the areas of cooperative governance and Self Help Group management, etc. help their understanding of the operational and financial aspects of the cooperatives and collectives.
Exposure visits
Exposure visits broaden their understanding, helping them develop a worldview and perspective on life and work. The fellows were thrilled to visit the historic Gandhi Ashram in the city of Ahmedabad. They expressed that the fellowship program has allowed them to explore and appreciate the Gandhian way of life and his philosophy.
Word Cloud
A word cloud is prepared based on the fellows response to the initial months of training session. Armed with the knowledge gained from these training sessions, the fellows prioritise personality development attributes like confidence, empathy, goal setting, teamwork and team spirit. Work – life balance emerges as a priority for them. The fellows agree that ‘Cooperation Leads to Achieving the Goal’.
Source: Analysis of Kaizen session, Grassroots Women’s Fellowship Program, December 2024.
Key takeaways
Strengthening leadership capabilities of grassroots leaders in women-led collectives and cooperatives by creating a cadre of trained ‘network of skilled-informed grassroots change-makers’. These changemakers will be the ‘change agents’, motivating and empowering fellow grassroots women to ‘actively pursue’ the changes they ‘aspire to achieve’ in their lives.
The Way Forward
The program endeavours to provide intensive handholding support to 30 fellows in two batches annually. It is planned to train 150 women fellows across the country. These fellows will help their community members to build a prosperous nation fulfilling the broader agenda of collectives. Cooperatives build a better world and we the SEWA Cooperative Federation is committed to work towards achieving the same.
1Lead, Capacity Building, SEWA Cooperative Federation, alpa@sewafederation.org
2Research Consultant, SEWA Cooperative Federation, aparimita@sewafederation.org
3SEWA Bharat, https://sewabharat.org/sewa-bharat/ as accessed on 3 March 2025.
4SEWA Cooperative Federation is referred to as ‘Federation’ in this article.
